A 62-YO Pune Woman’s Craft Room Is Helping 100+ People Swap Screen Time for Creativity

A ball of yarn rolls gently across the table as a 15-year-old crochet enthusiast settles into her seat beside her mother, Raashi Nachnani. Around them, conversations drift between stitches, laughter mingles with the aroma of freshly brewed tea, and colourful threads slowly transform into flowers, blankets and intricate patterns.

At the centre of it all is 62-year-old Rhoda Gaikwad Staneley, moving from one participant to another, helping a beginner thread a needle, admiring a finished motif and encouraging someone who is attempting crochet for the first time.

For Raashi, what began as a visit to support her daughter has become something far more meaningful.

“I think I discovered myself,” she says. “It showed me a creative side which I never thought I had.”

Stories like hers are unfolding every week at Creator’s Hands Craft Room, a bootstrapped creative space Rhoda founded in Pune in July 2025.

Here, people gather to learn embroidery, crochet and quilting, not in pursuit of perfection but for something increasingly rare today: patience, presence and connection.

In less than a year, the intimate studio has welcomed more than 100 participants, from teenagers and working professionals to expecting mothers, retirees and grandmothers.

Some arrive hoping to learn a new skill. Others come searching for a break from routine, a sense of community, or simply a few hours that belong entirely to them. Many leave with much more than a finished piece of craftwork.

A craft room built on four decades of teaching and community work

For Rhoda, the craft room is the culmination of a journey that began more than 40 years ago.

Born and raised in Mumbai, she grew up in a family deeply rooted in social work. After studying social work herself, she spent years working with women from economically disadvantaged communities, helping them access skill-development opportunities.

Whether it was encouraging women from Mumbai’s slums to attend training programmes, teaching vocational skills to children with special needs in Saudi Arabia, working with women in Qatar struggling with isolation after relocating abroad, or helping tribal women in South Africa learn skills they could later monetise, one thread connected every chapter of her life: empowering people through learning.

“Possibly I was destined for skill learning,” she says with a laugh.

Yet the idea for Creator’s Hands emerged much later.

After spending nearly three decades abroad, Rhoda and her husband chose to return to India before retirement.

“We wanted to come back while we still had the energy to give,” she says.

The COVID-19 years brought an unexpected realisation. While many women around her were financially secure and educated, they were struggling in less visible ways, feeling isolated, overwhelmed by screen-based lives and disconnected from hands-on creativity.

At the same time, Rhoda noticed something else.

Many younger women remembered watching their grandmothers sew, knit, or embroider. But somewhere in between, those skills had stopped being passed down.

“There was already a gap,” she explains. “Their grandmothers had done it. Their mothers hadn’t. And now these women wanted to reconnect with those skills.”

The opportunity arrived unexpectedly.

The family had invested in a space that was originally intended for their son’s future dental clinic. Until then, it sat largely unused.

With encouragement from her husband, children and friends, Rhoda decided to take a leap.

The result was Creator’s Hands Craft Room, a small, bootstrapped, intentionally intimate studio where groups are limited to four to eight participants.

The setting itself reflects Rhoda’s philosophy.

There are no rushed timelines or intimidating expectations. Most participants are complete beginners. Sessions are fully offline. The focus is not on creating perfect pieces but on enjoying the process.

A typical class begins with conversations and catch-ups before moving into stitching, crocheting, or quilting. Rhoda often shares interesting snippets of history connected to the craft being taught. Tea, coffee, homemade cake or cookies frequently make an appearance.

“It is not just about learning,” she says. “There is time for chatting, sharing stories, laughing together.”

Within its first year, the space welcomed more than 100 participants: school students, working professionals, expecting mothers, retirees and grandmothers.

What unites them is a shared desire to slow down.

As Rhoda puts it, many women arrive carrying the weight of work pressures, family responsibilities, caregiving duties or personal anxieties.

“When they leave,” she says, “they often tell me they have learnt patience, peace, and that they are capable of creating something they never thought they could.”

‘It showed me a side of myself I never knew existed’

For Raashi Nachnani, a 43-year-old homemaker, the journey into crafting began because of her daughter.

Her teenage daughter had taught herself crochet and was already creating dolls and handmade pieces. Looking for a way to expand her skills, she enrolled at Creator’s Hands.

Raashi accompanied her.

Initially, she had no plans of learning anything herself.

“I had no idea about crochet. I don’t think I would have ever picked up a hook,” she says.

But the warm atmosphere of the studio intrigued her.

She signed up for embroidery. Then patchwork. Then crochet.

Soon, she found herself eagerly asking what the next course would be.

The skills surprised her less than what she discovered about herself.

“I never thought I had the patience for any of this,” she says.

The transformation extended beyond crafting.

As a homemaker whose daughter was growing increasingly independent, Raashi had begun wondering what came next for her.

“I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with my life,” she admits.

Crafting gave her a new sense of purpose.

Today, instead of spending time scrolling through social media, she finds herself exploring patterns, creating projects and planning future ideas.

“I don’t waste time looking at reels anymore. I keep thinking, ‘What can I make next?'”

She also noticed unexpected emotional benefits.

Friends began commenting that she seemed calmer and more patient.

“I was quite a hyper person,” she says. “This has calmed me down so much.”

The experience has even inspired informal crafting evenings with friends, where they gather to crochet, embroider, watch movies and encourage one another’s progress.

“If I can learn crochet and embroidery,” she says with a laugh, “anyone can.”

Rediscovering joy after retirement

For 64-year-old former educator Shweta, the craft room arrived at a different stage of life.

A retired Head of the English Department at a school and a newly minted grandmother, she found herself scrolling through Pinterest during a visit to Australia, searching for ideas to make quilts for her granddaughter.

That was when she came across Creator’s Hands online.

The moment she stepped into the studio after returning to Pune, she felt at home.

“It is so beautifully done up,” she recalls. “Immediately you feel this is a place where you would like to sit and spend a few hours.”

She enrolled in quilting and later crochet.

For Shweta, the classes offered creativity, companionship and a renewed sense of excitement.

“After retirement, doing this work is actually therapeutic,” she says.

She particularly enjoyed interacting with participants across age groups.

“It took me back to my teaching days,” she says. “Everybody is like my daughter, sister, or friend.”

The collaborative environment, where participants cheer each other’s creations, exchange ideas and remain connected through WhatsApp groups, has become one of the most meaningful aspects of the experience.

“Every stitch you make gives you a kind of happiness,” she says. “Every creation gives you a high.”

For Shweta, the biggest lesson is simple.

“It is never too late to learn.”

More than a craft class

Listening to stories like Raashi’s and Shweta’s, Rhoda believes the impact of the craft room extends far beyond embroidery hoops and crochet hooks.

She sees teenagers replacing screen time with creativity. She sees retirees finding routine and purpose. She sees women making time for themselves without guilt. Most importantly, she sees community being rebuilt.

In many ways, the space resembles gatherings Rhoda remembers from her own childhood, when women sat together after finishing household chores, stitching and talking as children played nearby.

Those moments of shared creation, she says, are increasingly rare today.

Creator’s Hands attempts to bring them back.

Perhaps that is why participants often describe the studio as a refuge rather than a classroom.

A place where they can step away from expectations, productivity metrics, notifications and endless scrolling.

A place where they can simply create.

As colourful threads slowly turn into quilts, embroidered pieces and crochet creations, something else takes shape too: patience, confidence, friendships and a renewed connection with oneself.

For Rhoda, that remains the true purpose behind every class.

After decades spent helping others discover new skills, she now watches women of all ages walk into her craft room carrying doubts and leave carrying something far more valuable.

They leave with something they made with their hands, and something they rediscovered within themselves.

All images courtesy Rhoda Gaikwad Staneley 

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